Union must fill the pro-democracy gap left by US credibility weakness

IN HIS keynote speech at the Banqueting House in London last week, US President George W. Bush described the Arab region as an “arc of reform”. But this area – as the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey have affirmed – should more rightly be termed an “arc of instability”.

While I support America’s call for democracy in the region, the time is now right for the European Union to assume central responsibility for promoting positive political change in this, our neighbourhood.

There is now an opportunity, even an obligation, for Europe to upgrade its efforts for genuine democratic progress in the Arab world. It is clear that America has elevated this issue to a position of central importance in its foreign policy, but the Iraq conflict has weakened its credibility as a pro-democratic actor in the Middle East. Washington’s vast resources – even specific pro-democracy funds – are finding few takers.

Europe cannot be passive. The authors of last year’s United Nations Development Programme report on Arab development were critical of the “substantial lag between Arab countries and other regions in terms of participatory governance”. They referred to aspirations in the region and the lack of fulfilment leading to “alienation and its offspring – apathy and discontent”, the latter of particular relevance to EU security.

The Union must take urgent steps to strengthen the encouraging, but still tentative, steps towards pluralism across this region. A number of Arab countries have recently witnessed parliamentary elections, including Morocco, Jordan and Bahrain. Change is under way even in Saudi Arabia, but the EU is absent.

However, in Tunisia, which has elections next year, the EU has been told to stop funding programmes aimed at turning the country into something like a democracy. Indeed, a whole stream of earlier funding to human rights, civil society (especially women’s) organizations across the Arab world have dried up because of government intervention.

The European Commission’s important proposals to reinvigorate human rights and democratization in the Mediterranean countries will be debated next week in the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee (1 December) and the Euro-Med forum of EU and Arab-Mediterranean meetings in Naples (2-3 December).

There is also a need for the EU’s €100 million European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) to have an immediate change of focus. It was set up primarily to help the ex-Soviet bloc, and later Mediterranean, countries in their transition to democracy. It has been a success in the accession countries, but has failed to have much impact in the Arab states.

It should be re-targeted in 2004 towards wider Europe and, most particularly on our Mediterranean neighbours, so far largely ignored, as the Commission has recommended.

The advantage of EIDHR over other instruments, such as association agreements, is that it can be used without host government consent: funds can go directly to autonomous partners, in particular non-governmental and international organizations.

However, the use of EIDHR funds – currently some €100 million – must be based on the non-availability of other funding instruments. While the EIDHR has recently devoted significant resources to the developing countries, the Cotonou Agreement (2000) made specific provision for protecting and promoting human rights and democracy, and ample development funds exist for the purpose.

The EU budget for 2004 increases the funding for EIDHR by €22.5 million. A large proportion of these funds should be directed to the wider Europe, and especially the Mediterranean region, while providing for exceptional needs in the world at large, including countries such as Burma, China, Cuba and North Korea.

The European Commission and Parliament want action on Arab democratization: it is hoped that ministers meeting in the Euro-Med conference next week will agree. As recent events show, it is clear they cannot afford not to.

l Edward McMillan-Scott MEP (UK Conservative, Yorkshire) is the rapporteur on EU action on human rights and democratization for the foreign affairs committee. He is also the spokesman on Islamic affairs for the EPP-ED group.